Colonial powers and the distinctiveness of race are implicitly sempiternal and reinforce the reduction of Aboriginal bodies as a sexualized subject. This colonial gaze effectively inscribed Aboriginal bodies as inherently primitive and sexually available, yet simultaneously were viewed as the undesired, diseased and at the lowest tier of society, a notion which achieves continuing marginalization and stigmatization of Aboriginal people.
This paper is offered as a way of appreciating the Aboriginal body as the lived and embodied desires or intimacies of the colonist, and provides a discussion point in which to understand how these bodies have been shaped, inscribed, used and abused over time. As a result, Aboriginal people may be perceived as being part of the wider Australian ‘sex industry’ since the colonial era. This viewing may offer insights into the relationships between the colonial treatment of Aboriginal people and the subsequent processes of economic sexual relations today.